Editorial

NFL Writer Peter King Is Using His Weekly Column To Push For Gun Control

OPINION
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JANUARY 31: NBC studio analyst and Sports Illustrated write Peter King looks on during the Super Bowl XLVI Broadcasters Press Conference at the Super Bowl XLVI Media Canter in the J.W. Marriott Indianapolis on January 31, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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Peter King is now using his weekly column to push for gun control.

The incredibly popular NFL writer released his weekly column Monday morning, and he included some reader mail about the need to regulate guns or tax the hell out of ammo. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)

A reader wrote in part, “Ask yourself: ‘Am I more likely to be saved or murdered by one of my fellow citizens with an automatic weapon?’ There is no legitimate reason why automatic weapons should be permitted. Far too many tragedies, far too many lives destroyed. If we can’t outlaw the guns themselves, tax the ammunition at $100 per round.”

In response, King wrote the following:

That’s an interesting idea, John. We need more ideas like that, rather than the blanket “there’s nothing we can do because there are so many guns” refrain we hear over and over. We’re the United States. We can think of solutions. We should not succumb to the idea that X number of murderous rampages every year are just part of the American landscape that we just get used to. Unfortunately, too many in power in our country value guns over lives.

This right here is why we can’t have serious conversations about guns in America. One of America’s most famous writers is out here publishing reader comments about automatic weapons, which are already highly-regulated as NFL Class III weapons, and how we should tax every bullet $100.

For those of you who don’t already know, automatic weapons are pretty much never used in crimes. In fact, I don’t know of a single mass shooting in the past few decades where a fully automatic weapon was determined to have been used.

If you honestly think people are running around with fully automatic rifles committing murder, then you should be ignored when it comes to gun policy. King has a responsibility to make sure what he publishes is grounded in reality, and he blatantly didn’t do it here.

Furthermore, people read Peter King because they want NFL updates. We want to know what the chatter around the league is.

We don’t want to have politics shoved down our throats. It’s very clear at this point that politics and sports don’t mix well. When politics get injected into leagues, the ratings crash.

We’ve seen it time and time again.

King needs to stick to what he knows, which is the NFL. Either do that or he should educate himself on what’s going on. If you seriously publish a comment about how automatics are a problem and taxing bullets at the rate of $100 per round, then you’re just not a serious person.